Speeches & Remarks

The latest buzzword of the South China Sea 'war of words', as observed in media reports, academic opinion and official press remarks is none other than 'militarization'. But what does 'militarization' mean?
The Merriam-Webster and Oxford dictionaries commonly define 'militarization' as "to give a military character or quality to something." Alternative definitions include "an act of making something operate in a manner similar to armed forces"; "to equip or supply a place with military forces"; "to adapt for military use"; and "an act of deploying armed forces to an area."

The sands are quickly shifting in the South China Sea. New reports suggest that China may be preparing to conduct land reclamation at Scarborough Shoal, which is seized from the Philippines in 2012. And just weeks ago, satellite images revealed that China had installed sophisticated radar on Cuarteron Reef in the Spratly Islands and deployed two batteries of surface-to-air missiles on Woody Island in the Paracels. Further, following its rapid-fire island building, runway construction, and efforts to assert claims to new water and airspace, many experts agree that China could soon declare an Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ) in the South China Sea to match the one it has already claimed in the East China Sea. This would be yet one more attempt to interfere with air traffic over the contested waters.

China is not known for its commitment to human rights. While the Chinese people remain much freer than during Mao Zedong's rule, President Xi Jinping has been cracking down on dissent inside and outside of the Communist Party. For good reason people of good will in America wish to encourage Beijing to better respect its citizens' civil and political liberties.
Unfortunately, gratuitously antagonizing the People's Republic of China isn't likely to help the Chinese people. Rather, doing so almost certainly will make Beijing less willing to make concessions to the U.S.

Although there are expectations that the summit meeting between China's President Xi Jinping and US President Barack Obama will be cordial and produce a constructive dialogue, there are influential elements in the United States who seem unable to restrain their hostility toward China. That sentiment is especially evident among the Republican Party's presidential candidates. It is an unfortunate attitude that could do serious damage to the bilateral relationship.

On October 1, 2014 (China’s National Day), the Foreign Languages Press published The Governance of China, a compilation of 79 speeches, conversations, and instructions by PRC president and CPC General Secretary Xi Jinping covering the period from November 15, 2012, to June 13, 2014. Compiled by the State Council Information Office of China, the CCCPC Party Literature Research Office, and China International Publishing Group, the 500-plus-page volume is organized into 18 sections, covering Xi’s thoughts on a wide range of topics relating to Chinese governance, from domestic development concepts and policies (such as Socialism with Chinese Characteristics, the Chinese Dream, the rule of law, and economic reform), to ecology, national defense, the campaign against corruption, and a range of principles and policies guiding China’s growing involvement in world affairs.

Over the past several decades, growing transnational health challenges and the multiplication of global health norms and processes seeking to address these challenges have led to an intensified exchange between various global health actors, including nation-states, international governmental organizations, public-private partnerships, and nonstate actors.

Two years ago it was hard to find analysts who expected average GDP growth over the rest of this decade to be less than 8%. The current consensus seems to have dropped to between 6% and 7% on average.
I don’t think Beijing disagrees. After assuring us Tuesday that China’s economy – which is growing a little slower than the 7.5% target and, is expected to slow further over the rest of the year – was nonetheless “operating within a reasonable range”, in his Tianjin speech on Wednesday Premier Li suggested again that the China’s 7.5% growth target is not a hard target, and that there may be “variations” in China’s growth relative to the target.
Read more at: http://carnegieendowment.org/2014/12/02/how-might-china-slowdown-affect-world/hvso